Hi. We are a design/style LA based company specializing in mixing eclectic styles on moderate budgets. Also we have a strange amount of fun blogging about all our design and style adventures. Right now I’m happy to say that I’m Target’s home spokesperson, bringing accessible/stylish design to the masses.

A Lot of Changes Are Happening...

Mountain Fixer-Upper: Demo Update

My old boss’ New Years Resolution (in 2004) was to stop answering ‘GOOD, just so busy’ when asked how she was doing. All I can say right now is that thank God the two things that are making me feel so ‘busy’, are also the two things that make me feel ‘good’. I’m talking about family and designing. I wake up with a new tile pattern I hadn’t considered the night before, and can barely focus on Arie (from the bachelor of course) while pinning. I’m consumed trying to get both of these houses done by June, AND HAVING THEM LOOK GOOD BECAUSE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WILL SEE THEM, LOVE THEM, JUDGE THEM, HATE THEM AND POSSIBLY SHARE THEM…

Plus we are creating content around them which surely slows down the process.

To be clear I am not looking for any sympathy designing a house for our family and creating content with my husband is FUN. And help is on the way, don’t worry. 🙂 It just goes to show you that you can’t ever predict the number of decisions you have to make during a renovation. Ever.

We are fully demoed at the mountain house and very few major decisions have been made regarding fixtures. All the floorplans are done, yay! I’m working SO HARD on the bathrooms and kitchen plans without trying to rush the design process and settle for things without fully shopping for the perfect resources.

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More to come later, but I wanted to show you the almost final floor plan and some fun demo photos.

Things have changed a bit from the first iteration of the plans and while these aren’t FINAL FINAL, the updated plans are pretty darn close.

For all your floorplan junkies (a surprisingly lot of you) here is where we started:

This is where we are now:

Essentially it’s a gut job and every finish is being replaced (except the stone on the fireplace). So I don’t need to go into detail to say ‘new faucet’. Read all the details of what is happening above, but the major changes are these:

I took your advice and gave “Bedroom 1” its own full bath to create a suite, with enough room for a powder room.

We now have access to the garage because it’s too small for a car anyway (but fits Brian’s bright red 80’s golf cart with a ‘Ferrari’ bumper sticker so nicely). So we’ll likely use the garage for storage of everything seasonal. Going out and around was pretty annoying in the cold, so now we have interior access.

We are reorienting the stairs so that we can create more of an entry/mudroom as the back of the living room was kinda wasted space. We will likely put different flooring up until that point, with some storage…we are still working this out.

We are creating a counter height bar between living and kitchen (with tricked out drawer and wine fridges beneath it!!) to open up the rooms, but allow for more function and a sense of ‘a bar’.

“Bedroom 1” will have french doors leading out to a little deck that then leads to the backyard. We are trying to make every room desirable and doing so by maximizing light and flow.

Things I’m still thinking about – that floating wall in front of the HVAC. Now it could be treated in something pretty – maybe it’s clad or something. Our architect wanted to cover the door to the HVAC and lead your eye into the kitchen instead, but I still don’t totally get how to design it with that wall. It needs to look really intentional or functional… We are looking into moving the HVAC altogether without spending 1 million dollars. Then we could put a coat closet there…

The second floor has a decent amount of changes as well. Below are the as-builts with our original plans, but a lot has changed since our first thoughts and the actual architect’s drawings.

It’s so exciting. This house used to have: 3 bedrooms, 4 ‘hang out spaces’, 4 bathrooms (kinda) and now it has 4 bedrooms (3 of them suites), 3 hang out spaces, with 3 full baths, and 2 half baths.

Major changes upstairs:

We are giving “Bedroom 2” its own powder room/closet (which was just a HUGE closet) and stealing from that closet to make still a great big full bath for the kids.

“Bedroom 2” will also have a french door out to a little deck (and a ton more light – more on that later).

The bunk room will actually have a staircase up to the play attic, which will be SO MUCH FUN FOR THOSE KIDS. So they’ll have their own little retreat.

We stole from the bunk room to give some additional square footage to the master bath, so it’s a big pretty suite with so much light.

The upstairs family room is now a big old master suite, and we just found out this morning that it can have a vaulted ceiling – YAY!

Generally, you can see we are also adding windows and access to the outdoors wherever possible.

We’ll get into every single specific thing later, on individual posts but for now, please enjoy some before and ‘demo’ photos.

The living room…

HA REMEMBER WHEN BRIAN AGREED WE COULD SAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS BY JUST PAINTING THE CEILING WHITE?? More to come on that. 🙂

Demo is on …

Into the kitchen…

It’s all gone, folks. So exciting…

We have to put in a support beam to remove that wall. But no problems there. 🙂

The dining room didn’t need much demo, but while we are at it…

The family room is transitioning nicely.

Thanks to all of you who suggested we get rid of the staircase to make the family room and our master bedroom (upstairs) bigger. Both those rooms will be WILDLY more functional and pretty now.

We are likely putting in a fireplace along the new non-stairs wall because a big ol’ wall of glass doors will be going in where those windows are (below).

Well, buh-bye bathroom. Don’t worry – everything that could be salvaged was donated to the Boys and Girls Club as my contractor is on the board. THANK GOODNESS. I was feeling guilty, but all those vanities and faucets will have a new home soon.

Our master bedroom, that used to be another hangout area, is getting a jackhammer to that burgundy wall.

The old ‘master’ is being turned into the bunk room (sans fireplace).

It’s a lot. And this is just one house. I’m going to write a whole post about how to get your project done on time (or as fast as possible) but the biggest tip? Plan, be decisive, order everything with ample lead time and check in. every. single. day.

Oh, just that.

So hanging out in a jacuzzi shooting a video with my husband doesn’t fall on my to-do list, AND YET IT DOES.

Happy Friday, y’all. If I’m not ready for the master bath ‘I Design, You Decide’ post by next week I’m going to take one of my 95 tile options and bury them in my eyes. This ‘designing each room twice, but where we both love them equally’ thing is so hard I can’t even tell you. But I think it’s making me a way better designer and it’s also SO FUN. I’m being way more thoughtful and considerate than usual, which I think is good for all of us. I just need to do it FASTER.

See you Monday (unless you are coming to the ‘Let’s Rummage For Good’, sale tomorrow – get details here).

So happy you went with the 180* return in the stairs; it’ll give you so much functionality in that space. For the floating wall to cover the HVAC, have you considered closing in the space between the HVAC and the floating wall, and making that your coat closet? This would essentially extend that entire block of storage in the centre of the house to meet the floating wall. The implications for the HVAC would be either the access door moves to the wall facing the washroom, or you access it through the coat closet.
Excited to see you progress!

Love the idea of extending storage/service to create a closet and relocate the HVAC door! This could align with the drywall ceiling above to create a clean transition from lower to upper level, and perhaps encapsulate the column as well. It may make the space slightly more closed off, but I think this storage/service area would read as solid, clean and functional mass in the space that also helps to further define spaces!

Like both these ideas–yes to encapsulating the column and aligning with the ceiling above! Or, if you don’t want to extend the whole closet, can you integrate the HVAC door and get a pretty register so that you don’t have to have a floating wall? If the column has to remain, I hope it can be aligned with the ceiling. Love seeing all this process! I live in a lake/mountain house, so I am super excited to see you transform the space into a family friendly beautiful home!

Great idea. I would just leave HVAC doors inside the closet, why waste money moving it. How often do you need to access it anyway? I don’t have HVAC, wouldn’t know, but it seems it’ s not something you need to get to all the time. But you definitely always need more storage on the kitchen side and a nice closet is a bonus. Good call.

I would extend but instead of the coat closet (a bit too far from entry) I would use the extra space in the kitchen – because we always need more kitchen storage! (and on the plan, doesn’t seem to have a lot of so far)

The reason as of now that we can’t enclose it is that the main return is there, too (although we could move that) and the big outdated heat boiler thing is in there, too, where the heat comes from so as of NOW we can’t enclose it. BUT I’m still looking into moving everything since the floating wall feels weird to me, but i don’t want to look at the HVAC door either ….

Sand blasted beams get this super rich honey tone that is to die for it. If you sand blast your ceiling beams, be ready to fall in love 🙂 I got to see this in old mill renovations and the ceilings and the common area stairways were perfection!!

We just finished moving our HVAC (and water heater and softener) We are adding on, and opted to move HVAC in the process. It’s the best decision of our entire project because the old location was terrible and intrusive. In the whole scheme it didn’t cost as much as I imagined it would, nor was it as complex or difficult as I expected (of course I wasn’t the one crawling around in our ceilings!). Depends how strongly you feel about the location compared to other parts of your project…but there’s no harm in getting quotes!

Looks amazing!!! Curious why you didn’t go with a Jack and Jill style bathroom upstairs to give some better functionality for bedroom 2? A powder room in an upstairs bedroom seems like they’ll have to use the kids shower anyways, might as well set them up to share!

I didn’t notice that until your comment. Maybe it’s so bedroom 2 inhabitants can poop in their own private bathroom. If I was staying in the bunk room I would be totally onboard with that. Sharing a bathroom really a toilet grossed me out.

We thought about it … I guess that in a perfect world the kids bedroom/bunk room would have their own bathroom with a bath, but i don’t think we can do that in the space. So while ideally bedroom 2 would have their own full bath, we figured that having a powder room is at least nice to have their own space, then sharing with the kids isn’t the worst thing ever. But i’ll stare at it (although they are framing next week …. ) I guess we could make it one huge bathroom with a pocket door from bedroom 2? I don’t know. I like it. Not every guest needs their own full bath. I think a powder is a good addition while allows the kids to still have access to theirs … I think 🙂

Just wondering why bedroom 1 doesn’t seem to have a closet … it seems like in bed 1 and 3 you could have a closet (those kinds with sliding doors or French doors so narrow) along the hallway walls and then be able to have a shower in bedroom 2/bath4

Those stenciled leaves on the wall above the jacuzzi…you’re going to miss those, aren’t you? Ha!

Also: so many boob lights in that house! Why do people (aka builders/landlords) use those? You can go to Home Depot and find other non-boob-shaped lights that are just as cheap and look way better! That style fixture is the worst!

This all looks terrific. My one thought would be that you should put a shower in the en-suite bathroom of Bedroom 2. If you have a full house you could have six people (four in the bunkroom, 2 in the bedroom) all trying to get a shower in the only common bathroom on that floor.

Also, can you say why you changed the wall of the living room from straight to slightly v-shaped? There may be an obvious answer, I just can’t think of it!

Agreed – that was my concern as well. That’s a lot of people for the one shower; I’d even consider eliminating the bathtub (I know!) in the bunk room bathroom in order to shoe horn a shower into both the guest and bunk baths.

If I am pretending to be a guest at a wonderfully relaxing, family friendly mountain/lake chalet, I think I’d prefer an armoire in the bedroom and an attached shower in the bathroom. (Thoughts from the peanut gallery…)

Good Eye! The first set of plans was drafted quickly and we didn’t have the exact angle of that exterior wall which is why it appears different in the second version of the plans, which were drafted after we had the exact mesurements and angles 🙂 xx

LOVE all this process – the combo of demo/new floor plans + annotated photos is very helpful! I agree that the existing HVAC is problematic. If is stays, I think relocating the door to the side where the w/d is would be necessary for sight line purposes. I agree the wall to hide the existing location is kind of awkward…but I see the benefit for focusing the view from the front door. Other thoughts – could you pull the stairs 3-4′ towards the front door to tuck a closet to the right of the staircase? Or leave the stairs located in the new plans and tuck a closet under the highest portion of the stairs after the return? Just a few thoughts! Good luck!

Relocating the door was my thought as well. Instead of moving the HVAC or the main return, just reorient. Take down the wall separating the HVAC and the W/D. The shelving there would be lost, but could be regained on the other side of the HVAC. There would then be only one door for accessing both laundry and AC which is cleaner looking as well. And it would face the short hallway where BR1 is, which is where I would expect a door – rather than having a door oddly in a space that is more “open plan”.

Floorplant junky here! Love them! It’s going to be so gorgeous! There are a couple of things that strike me as odd, though, but it could be just because I am not from the US.
1) I would put a shower in bedroom 2’s bathroom intead of the closet. The bedroom seems to be quite big, so I am sure you can find a way to put a wardrobe in there. I know you Americans are more used to walk in closets (and they are great! I have them too) but wardrobes are an option too. Also, since this is a holiday home and since this will most likely be a guest room, probably a big dresser could be more then enough for the clothes of 2 ppl for 1 week.
2) may I ask you why putting the toilet in the master bathroom in a closed space? I know it’s quite common in several Countries, but I find it soooooo depressing to lock myself in such a cell like space. And in this gorgeous, huge, light filled bathroom, it’s expecially a pity to hide yourself in a dark tiny closet

HA. I just said that, too! Yah, why not a wardrobe and add a shower. I think for resale its hard to call it a “bedroom” without a closet (and i suppose we could put in a closet at the front of the room … but yah a wardrobe is all guests need …. But what if we decide to LIVE there? THen will we be bummed there is no closet?

I’m also wondering why Bedroom 2 didn’t get its own full bath? 51 sq ft is plenty for a full bath. I noticed you put the closet in there. Why not move the closet to the wall that borders the hallway (that room is long and narrow anyway) and make that a true suite?

I could stare at these floor plans all day – what a monster project! This home is going to look AMAZING at the end of it all. Super appreciative you’re maximizing every opportunity to bring in natural light and access to the outdoors. Thank you for taking us on this journey with you!

I would forgo the closet in bedroom 2 and add a small shower. Its so nice when on vacation to have a suite and not have to go outside of your room to shower. Much more important than a closet which could be dealt with in a wardrobe or other storage. Or even a small corner closet in the room.
Just my 2 cents. Looking great. I don’t envy your time constraints that must be so hard!

I love this series and love seeing you go out of your comfort zone in the design and look forward to each new post. I also don’t get why bedroom 2 is getting a powder room and not a full bathroom. It seems like a floor plan design flaw. Is there any way to change that?

How about if you switched the front door to swing open the other way and then you can convert the new picture window area to a coat closet orrrrrrr if you put the front door where the picture window is then you walk in through a mud room like space. All of this only works if there is enough space there obviously.

Master bath layout bothers me…to walk in and have the shower smack dab in my face makes, to me, a feeling of being cramped. I would place vanities when you first walk in to create a feeling of openness, then the shower and toilet or the toilet then shower. Understand there may be some logistics that I can’t see from floor plan.
Will Bedroom 1 have a closet? I don’t see one.
Your comments about how many decisions to be made and how often they can change I sure can relate too!

This is so exciting! I know that the outcome will look really great as always. I do have a couple of things that I personally wouldn’t want if this was my house (which is admittedly a moot point because obviously this isn’t mine). One — stove on the island. There really isn’t an effective way to vent it properly and I want an island to just be an island as prep space and for serving space. Two: that is a pretty big banquette space. I would hate to be the one in the middle. Kids grow up so fast — they may not mind scooching over today but in a few years, no one would want to sit there.

Agree about the range being on the island – it “looks” great but doesn’t work well in practice. Either an effective hood is going directly above (closing things off visually), or you will get talked into one of those pop up vents that comes up behind the burners when you cook. Those things – no matter how expensive they are – do not work AT ALL.

All the cooking oils will be aerosolized during cooking and will be dispersed throughout the open kitchen, all cooking smells permeate the house (great when it’s cookies, not great if you’re cooking fish and that’s what your bedrooms smell like for the next 8 hours), and in particular: a thick coating of sticky grease and dust over the light fixtures above the island. 🙁

We went back and forth for DAYS about the cooktop on the island and ultimately we chose the island instead of the counter but honestly that could change and we put the sink/dishwasher on the island instead. But I feel like I love the idea of the sink with that huge picture window behind it …
Also we’ll have a hidden downdraft. But I totally appreciate the suggestions and maybe we will …

My parents have a range with a down-draft in their island and they haven’t had any problems. They have plenty of space for prep on either side of the range, and it looks like you do too. I vote keep the placement, (but of course do whatever you think is best!) 🙂

PS – All of a sudden this project feels so REAL. Like whoa, this is a huge, and I’m so excited to see the beautiful content you create!

PPS – I so appreciate your transparency and sharing your process with us. I’m definitely a floorplan junkie, and posts like these are such a treat. Thank you!!

We are contemplating this as well. In a previous house, I had a cooktop and oven in the island and it was nice to visit with my husband or guests as I was cooking or watch my kid playing in the adjoining living room. The hood was an issue because someone was always running their head into it and it did ruin the view. There is another option – a company called BEST (there might be others) makes a ceiling flush mount range hood for islands. We just might go that route because I cook a lot and hate to be crammed up against a wall in isolation while I’m cooking. I also think putting a sink in an island is nice for styled magazine photos, but in practice doesn’t work well when you have dishes sitting in a drying rack, as we do all the time.

Quick but super-passionate comment: Yes please to new door. Those fanlights, in California, to my mind, are dreadfully dated. Not only dated, but really not organic to place. I’d love to see you put in something mid-century, or mountain cabin rustic.

Excellent! One quick question: from the functionality perspective, wouldn’t it make more sense to squeeze 3/4 bath instead of 1/2 in the upstairs guest bedroom. Skip the closet, squeeze in a shower? Good luck!

Wow! This is great! Thanks for sharing the floorpans…I am definitely a floorpan junkie 🙂 I can’t wait to see this come back together…nothing makes me happier than a full demo & taking the time & $$ to really do a house up right. Good call on all the added windows…expensive, but totally worth it in the long run. We added 8 large windows & 4 skylights to my home when we did a similar project, and the light is everything. We also had to rearrange every piece of plumbing in the house, but it was completely worth it. I CAN’T WAIT to see more posts on this house!! Thanks for sharing, and I hope you have some updates on the Portland house coming soon 🙂

I’d look to rotate the hvac to have the door across from the powder room (might need to just steal some storage from the kitchen). If the support post needs to stay you could extend the hvac area to include a closet. I would also put the closet in the bedroom upstairs and add a shower instead of just a powder room. No adult guest wants to exit their room and shower in the ‘kids’ bath. Just some thoughts and so exciting to get to watch (and suggest).

I find the HVAC wall to be awkward. Love other posters idea to add the coat closet behind the HVAC wall and switch the access to the other hall if possible. But if you don’t want to lose that space or can’t reorient it, why not do a hidden door on for the existing HVAC door (magnet push etc.) and you could do some pretty cladding on the whole wall/door with a pretty grate integrated for the venting. Then no need for that extra wall and the door could still be a feature instead of an eyesore.

Mudroom? Serious space needed for beach towels to dry, sandy toys to dry, etc. Maybe you will have a space outside to do this. I’m used to humid Ohio where nothing fully dries outside if wet down. I’m just a big believer in having a designated seriously “dirty” spot/hallway/room with kids/guests/animals. But so exciting to see it all. Super excited for your family!

OH girl, this is my #1 issue and we have STRUGGLED with this. We even considered redoing the front exterior to add on to get one. We will have a wall of hooks and cubbies in the entry (but it will STILL look messy. I’m thinking about actually cutting into the garage to be able to put cabinetry there, but not sure if we can yet. Lastly the garage will likely become a huge mudroom, but to your point – YES WE NEED A PROPER MUDROOM. 🙂

I had the same thought immediately when looking at the floor plan: it would make life MUCH easier for you and guests to use part of the garage as a mud-room – well-worth investment!
It might be a little of a ‘head-scratcher’ in terms of how to divide up the garage and where to locate the various access doors, but quite feasible…!

I would love love love to hear costs on the radiant heat flooring you are putting in. Every time I bring it up with our contractor and my husband I keep getting told it would cost too much. But it feels much more like neither want to be bothered! And we’re in Chicago, so I think it would have much more of an impact for us than for you!

OMG! maybe we had the same contractor, I asked him so many times to quote me on it and he never did! And then we needed to move ahead with the plans and now I have no radiant heat. In Chicago also. WTH?

My husband is acting as GC for a current addition project. His contract buddy told him to do radiant heat, that no one regrets it!.We almost didn’t listen in order to save $$, but it was turned on this week and it’s amazing!! It was DIY before our slab was poured, so not sure of costs to have it installed professionally but I think it’s going to be a game changer! Its feels almost as good as sitting by a fire.

Good point! I’ve wondered the same in our situation… but underground the only materials are plastic pex piping. The mechanics are accessible above ground and in a utility room. (I am NOT an expert…learning as I go and probably making this all up ;-)), so I think it’s the same risk as anything else that would be underground in a slab? Plumbing, etc? We pressure tested all the piping before pouring to slab.

(I replied a couple hours ago and thought it was here, but now I don’t see it. Sorry for a repeat!) Good point! This had me concerned at the beginning, too! But, from what I understand, since the only underground material is PEX piping, the likelihood of breakage is similar to that of underground plumbing, ductwork, etc. All of the mechanical components are accessible above ground. I could be making this all up. I am NOT an expert. 😉

Holy hell! You are CRUSHING IT. Making so many decisions on such a tight timeline is tough and you are clearly the right person for the job. It is so fun to follow along with everything! Looking forward to your tips about getting projects done on time for sure. <3

Wow, this is a HUGE undertaking and the reality of it is just now hitting me. It’s all fun and pretty until you see just how much dang work it’s going to be! I’m excited for room by room breakdowns as that is a little less overwhelming I think, and will clarify a few questions I’m confused about. Anyway, definitely looking forward to it all.

Quick thought on the HVAC door (not sure what to do with the vent below). Couldn’t you just hide the door? Like a secret door? Not sure what kind of treatment you are having on the walls, but for an example – if you did vertical shiplap (or whatever – not proposing that, just using it as an example) then you could do the door too and make it a push/open door, so there isn’t any hardware and then the door just disappears. Or you could still do a secret door but hang an awesome vertical art piece there that you can remove when you need to access the HVAC. I think a floating wall may look awkward, but excited to see the examples!

Do you really need two stacked washer/dryers in a second home? If you could live with just the one upstairs by the bunk room, you would have lots more wiggle room with the HVAC and use the extra space as a closet.

This might be my favorite part of other people’s renos – the part where it’s all possibility and all I have to do is imagine.

Keep it! I would love to have a washer dryer on both levels and not lug stuff up and down stairs. You have the space and after a messy day on the water, throwing the beach towels in downstairs and the kids and your clothes upstairs will be soooooo worth it. Also worth it for when you (or a cleaning service) need to wash all those sheets and towels quickly at the end of the weekend so it is ready for the next weekend!

As the kids and friends get a bit older, won’t you need to have separate bedrooms for girls/boys? Perhaps bedroom 2 could be turned into a girls bedroom and the bunk room could be designated for the boys.

I love seeing your process and how decisions have been slightly tweaked from the beginning. I’m so excited you included the floor plans, it helps to visualize the whole picture instead of room by room. All of this makes me want my own mountain retreat – especially as summer approaches and the heat return here in the high desert!

Two washer/dryers is totally overkill in a vacation home! I would nix the stackable on the first floor and make better use that space…coat closet, kitchen storage, re-orientation of the HVAC to whatever is most pleasing. We recently added a new HVAC system in a fixer upper with full access being inside the adjacent closet, totally out of site. The only way you can tell the heat pump is in there is the thermostat on the wall and the air return below.

I respectfully disagree about two washing machines being overkill. If you have more than one family staying there, it would be hugely helpful. Ditto if anyone there has a baby – even if you’re not cloth diapering, babies go through a few outfits a day, or at least mine did. Just the amount of sheets and towels to wash would be crazy for more than one family.

I agree! Move the washer and HVAC to the garage (turn it into an enormous mud room!!) and then you can put in heaps more kitchen storage or even a bar near the kitchen. It will also ensure the hallway from the playroom to the living room is just a bare wall, which offers way more privacy and less noise for that guest bedroom.

Can you also put an outdoor shower near the garage/mudroom? That would be so convenient and practical in summer.

So exciting to see the progress, thank you for including us! I have to add my two cents though … I stay in houses with a group of friends frequently and it sounds like how you are planning on using the house (multiple couples and a boatload of kids or grandparents and siblings and all the grandkids). The only “difficult” part of sharing these houses in when we all have to get ready for an activity or dinner reservation and you have ten people that need to shower and get ready all at the same time. Please please please give bedroom #2 upstairs a smaller closet and add a shower. It will make such a difference for those adults in there or for 20 years down the road when one of your kids is using it as their main room. You can put an armoire and a luggage rack in the bedroom for more closet space.

I wonder if you would consider writing about or have anything to say about being a woman and dealing with male contractors and subs. I generally know more about construction than my husband but sometimes get so frustrated with workers not listening to me that I have to communicate through him.

YES! My father and I just spent six months restoring (after almost completely gutting) a 1908 Craftsman together. I pulled equal weight but none of the contractors gave me the time of day. They treated me like someone’s daughter just hanging around, nevermind that I’m covered in rust and plaster and wearing a freaking toolbelt.

That’s why my contractor is a woman! (Well that not why, but after I fired my guy who didn’t know what he was doing, his replacement is a woman and she is awesome. So nice being able to raise issues/questions and being treated as an equal. The first guy would text my husband questions when he was at work and I was in the next room. No words.

I think the bath space in bedroom 2’s bathroom would be a shower over a bath arrangements. I notice that a few people have commented on there only being a bath for the bunk room, so I thought I would post my assumption.
Is that correct Emily??

What about taking some of Bedroom 2 and put a regular sized W/D in the hall and a small closet for the bedroom. That way you could have one W/D upstairs and a closet. The bedroom might be a little small but I think having both a shower and a closet will make up for that.

I did that exact same thing…I took some space from another room to make a small laundry room instead of just a laundry closet when I remodeled and I’m SO glad I did. It isn’t big but there is room for a ironing board / small hanging area.
Having everyone make suggestions is so cool and will help make a better design!!

Love seeing these transformations! One question was about the wall-to-wall carpet in the master since you’re having a hot tub on your balcony (so luxurious!). I know I would hate to track chlorine water all over my nice carpet – would it be weird to have the same stone from your master along that side of the room? Just specifically for the hot tub?

I agree with this. A powder room by itself is only really useful, IMHO, when there is no other bathroom available on a floor (e.g. a small townhouse when you don’t want to go all the way upstairs for a bathroom break).

Speaking of bathrooms and plumbing, and I know Emily doesn’t have a dog so this is inapplicable here, my dream would be to have a dog-washing tub somewhere in my home. Just a small tub that takes less water to fill, and that’s easy for my senior dog to stumble into.

Layout-phene here 🙂 Will there be other access to the deck outside the master, besides through the master bedroom? Or are there other places you could put the hot tub that would be more central? It seems like either everyone will trek through the master bedroom to get to it (not ideal to those staying in the master), or all those staying on the second floor will change upstairs, go downstairs, outside, and then up the outside stairs (if there are any) to get to it. But so glad you’re having one- winter soaks are the best!

My dearest Emily, I just love these floor plans and I am so excited for your house! Seeing as the great bedroom 2 shower issue seems to be headed the right way (haha!) I will now give my two cents on the sink/stove on the island debate. In our NYC apartment we had the stove on the island and we never wanted our kids anywhere near the island, particularly when we were cooking because, well, heat and fire and accidents. We ended up not using it (the island, not the stove). When we moved and did a kitchen renovation we put the sink on the island (and therefore the dishwasher too) and we are very very happy with that decision. Our kids now practically live on the island (that sounds funny, haha again). Also, for a dinner party (especially when people are staying over) we find that we spend more time doing dishes than actually facing the stove (and we tend to concentrate more when facing the stove) so it is a more natural time to have a friend sitting at the island keeping you company too. Therefore I am strongly team sink on the island. But I know you will love whatever you do and I look forward to seeing it!!

Team stove here! I have one and love it! I never do dishes when I have guests (I just leave them for later), but I obviously have to cook at least a little bit, so being able to chat is awsome.
Also, my island is quite deep, so that there is no risk for kids sitting on the opposite side of the stove to reach the fire.
I would never put a sink on an island because personally I couldn’t live without a draining rack cabinet over the sink. But it looks like you don’t use them overseas, because none of the kitchen I’ve seen in blogs have it.

Could you cut into Living Area 3 to make a shallow reach in closet? Then have space in the upstairs half bath to make it into a shower. On vacation even with a small baby or child I would not sit in a tub. My son’s first shower experience at 13 months was on vacation.

My bestie growing up took over her parent’s basement where there was only a half bath and it wasn’t the end of the world to (climb stairs) and use the family bathroom to take a shower.

Emily, c an you move the entire HVAC system to the garage? Then you could build a coat closet and get rid of the floating wall. That seems so strange to me and I don’t know if it will make sense in the space.

So much great progress! Love seeing the floorplans, too. I would also like to chime in and say YES to adding a shower or shower/tub to “Bath 4” to make it a full suite, and putting the closet for “Bedroom 2” on the wall adjacent to the hallway. I also see that “Bedroom 1” right below it is a similar configuration, and currently does not have a closet sketched up. I would also put a closet in BR1 adjacent to the hallway so it can be counted as a bedroom for bank appraisal/real estate purposes. I know you have a lot of people chiming in, but I hadn’t seen anyone mention adding a closet for BR1 yet! Love the mountain house posts, it’s so interesting to hear about this in close to real-time progress posts and hear about all the design decisions as they happen!

Not sure about appraisals, but in terms of functionality, we had a wardrobe in a bedroom of our old house in lieu of a closet. Honestly, it worked better for us than a traditional closet because the doors opened fully so we could get into every cranny of it, and it already had divided interior spaces (solved the ol’ closet problem of needing to install a closet shelving system). Also, we had relatively easy access to items stored on top of the wardrobe since we didn’t have closet doors and a wall to negotiate around. I read somewhere that closets are a very American thing, and Europeans generally prefer wardrobes, but I have no idea if that’s true.

I feel like we are in the same phase with the renovation of our house. Really fun to read this and see your process! About the lead picture with all the hardwood samples, I’m sure it will be in a future post, but I’m super interested to hear about that bottom right sample. Love that tone!

Dunno what happened but my post disappeared! I am loving the demo photos and the floorplans. SO much work has been done in such a small timeframe! I agree with the posters to put a shower in the upstairs bath. Re the HVAC, is there any possibility to re-route it to the garage? I realize that it’s a big move, but the HVAC/floating wall thing is SO awkward to me!!

Looking great Emily. Once the demo is done you can see so much clearer. The open spaces make so much more sense.
Two suggestions, what if you just move the hvac door to the other hallway so that it is not ‘a feature’ in the main living room? An entire wall just to hide it seems a little ott!
And, if you put a fireplace on the wall in the family/play room you can also put one on the same wall in the master bedroom. If you are building a chimney you may as well make it do ‘double duty’.
Looking forward to more updates.

Ok, here is another thought…don’t know if it will work, but I’ll throw it out there. On the hall side of the first floor, it looks like there is some open space to the left of the washer/dryer unit. Can you move the HVAC all the way to the left, and then put the door on the other side facing the W/D? Then you do not need the floating wall.

Ok, I know this is a sore subject for Orlando, but I just had a stereotypical way over budget and behind schedule complication getting my floors replaced, and I know his parents renovation has turned into a nightmare. This is such a major renovation over a fairly short time period but it seems to be proceeding at lightning speed — in a good way. Between Orlando’s experience and your experience here are there any easy lessons learned with contracting?

I feel like such a dunce with my project and I’m so curious how actual experts handle these things (I felt guilty that my contractors’ day laborers wouldn’t get paid if I didn’t pay for the whole project before it was completed — when I thought the project was 90% complete and then guess who disappeared. And yes I know I made a total rookie mistake. Ugh.)

– Turn the garage into a mud room/storage room. Move the HVAC and downstairs laundry into there too. No need to traipse dirty clothes and towels into the house. Wash and store it all right there.
– What about then creating a huge bar area and kitchen shelving where the HVAC currently is and extend to the post? Store glasses, platters, salad bowls, etc. People on holiday want to eat, drink and entertain!
– Definitely put a shower in bedroom 2.
– Will you put sofa beds in the playroom and upstairs living room? It’s always nice to have the option for more guests to stay in a pinch. Even better if you can close off those rooms at night. Although you don’t want to compromise how the rooms function in the day. And they need access to a bathroom to shower. Something to think about!!

– Turn the garage into a mud room/storage room. Move the HVAC and downstairs laundry into there too. No need to traipse dirty clothes and towels into the house. Wash and store it all right there.
– What about then creating a huge bar area and kitchen shelving where the HVAC currently is and extend to the post? Store glasses, platters, salad bowls, etc. People on holiday want to eat, drink and entertain!
– Definitely put a shower in bedroom 2.
– Will you put sofa beds in the playroom and upstairs living room? It’s always nice to have the option for more guests to stay in a pinch.

Mostly loving it. The only thing I strongly dislike is the giant banquette. It does not seem practical both for cleaning (like cleaning the middle-most seat after a spill – do you move out the entire table or crawl back there on top of the seating?), and for seating. No one wants to be stuffed in the middle, although if you used two tables with a walk-through space in the middle, then that would resolve my concerns. Went out to a restaurant recently and found that 5 people is the maximum number that can sit down on a banquette like that without going crazy. But, obviously at a restaurant most of our needs (food and beverage) were brought to us. It’d be different if we were at home and people kept having to pop up anytime someone dropped a fork, needed a refill, etc.

I’m also a little confused by the layout of the master bathroom. The tub just seems showy (statement-y) for something that may not get a lot of use, and the closed-in toilet seems a little pretentious, a bit of a waste of space, and more difficult to get into to clean. I don’t dislike the master bathroom design; I’m just not excited by it.

You just made my day! One of my suggestions, I’m guessing I’m not the only one that made it 😉 is being used. Guests will appreciate the full attached bath on the first floor. Now I’m feeling very smart and fancy. 🙂

W-O-W!!! So great to see the floorplans! Thanks.
I watch many reno. programs from the USA and am constantly amazed at the ease with which walls are removed/added/shifted, new rooms created. In Australia, most internal walls are brick; if you have brick walls that is. I get that the mountain fixer-upper doesn’t. But, I see brick outside walls with dry wall walls inside. If I wanted to shift a wall in my house, it would be MAJOR work+.

This is all so cool. How nifty that so-many-heads-are-better-than-one for brainstorming ideas to make the floor plan perfect!
My two cents is about the island – cooktop vs sink/dishwasher. We went with the sink/dishwasher on ours. Truly, a sink is used for more waaaaay than just doing dishes. Washing hands, prepping produce, filling/emptying things, etc. You really spend a lot more time using the sink area throughout the day. A stove is used for cooking and like another poster said, may require a bit more concentration. People hang at the island too – especially kids – and my biggest concern was having papers/mail or other flammable/meltable things near a cooktop. Yes, that view is spectacular but only when you’re by yourself. The rest of the time you’ll be looking over your shoulder at all the activity/gathering going on behind you. Though, perhaps you could put your cooktop on the penninsula and your sink on the island? Have your cake and eat it too? 🙂

I agree with the others who have said the seating at the banquette – with one table – is not ideal. I love the way you can fit sooooo many more people (especially kids lined up eating bowls of cereal or pb&js!) at a banquette but being stuck in the middle is a bummer. Two tables is a great idea and perhaps, because you and Brian are so clever and think outside the box-y, you could design some kind of self-storing extension for the two table design that would fill in the gap when needed? I can practically hear your brain gears turning!

I feel the same way you do about that post *and* the floating wall idea. Awkward. I was thinking the same thing as another poster – why not just extend the counter to it? And has anyone mentioned adding a shower to that bedroom yet….? Oh, wait, only 100 other people! 🙂 Ha!
Keep up the good work!

Banquets are having a serious moment right now. I’m guessing this one will be gorgeous and perfect and get tons of pins. The same with the sink in front of the window – it will be gorgeous and -worthy. I doubt that either of these will change….

Actually, I forgot something else…. You can put your master toilet in the corner by itself (ours is) but nix the door. If you don’t have a sink *in* the toilet area and you have a door handle you have to touch after using the toilet….well, you see where I’m going with this. Ick.

Ok, here is my PSA for the day. If you are going to do walnut blasting (as opposed to sand blasting), please, please, please make sure that none of your tradespeople have tree nut allergies. The residue from the walnut blasting can cause an allergic reaction. I know it sounds extreme, but there was a recent death in Edmonton, Alberta because of this. Otherwise, everything looks great and very exciting! Can’t wait to see more!

Hi,
This is wonderful to see and I wish you lunch with all the ‘ghosts of owners past’ as they come to the fore with your exploratory work!
I wonder if you wouldn’t mind sharing which programme you use to detail your images? The text labelling and perspective blocking both read really well. Thanks in advance!

I like it. The play room is so much better without the staircase, and the bunk room is kick ass with the side by side bunks. I just have a few things I’d change:

1). I think you should put a bath or at least shower in Bedroom 2’s en suite. With one public bathroom on that level and four kids in the bunk room already using it for bathing (and no shower/bath downstairs either), to have two more adults try to vie for shower time seems a bit tough. That’s 6 people trying to use one shower/bath. Plus, I don’t see guests needing a closet as much as a shower, so I say put a shower where the closet is in that bathroom.

2). I think there are too many doors to the outside (or doors in general). There’s a door to the garage, then two doors in the entry way (side note–I’m worried that space will be too awkward to work with because of the garage door centered on that wall….), a door to the kitchen, french doors for bedroom 1, french doors next to the dining room, and then sliding doors right next to those french doors. I can’t imagine needing to lock them all, and the possibilities of someone breaking in. I’d definitely do away with one of the two sets of doors in the play room (the french doors or the sliding glass doors) as that is super unnecessary and will look weird. Also, as a guest, I’d rather have more privacy (and wall space for a hutch/closet/storage) than french doors to the outside, so I don’t think Bedroom 1 needs outdoor access. Plus, I think of the fung shui of that room and where the bed would go, and it doesn’t seem right.

3). Are you the only one with access to the hot tub? Before, the master deck had steps down (which would mean those french doors are yet another way to get into the house, as per point 2). Why not build out the deck outside the play room and put the hot tub there for everyone to use? You and Brian will have a lovely, private bath (look at that shape!) so you don’t need a private hot tub for just the two of you.

I am so, so happy to have found this project!
We’re currently building a log home in the wilds and have a very similar kitchen/dinning room layout.
I thought I had the finishings all figured, but am now having doubts, so I can’t wait to see what you do with that space. Literally can’t wait. My husband is doing all of the work (land clearing, foundation, building, drywalling, painting, floors, EVERYTHING) and he is very eager to keep the project moving forward, whereas I like to over-analyize, re-think, and sample everything…so he is pressuring me to commit to paint colours, tiles, etc. and I’m just not sure. The baby on the hip and toddler underfoot are also slowing me down, of course.
We await your next post with bated breath!

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Emily is a stylist, author and T.V. host with a strong commitment to vintage inspired approachable home style for every single person. Perfection is boring; Let’s get weird. learn more

Interior Design Blog by Youxi988

I started this interior design blog in 2010 as a journal of my style and home projects with the belief that design should be approachable, informational and accessible no matter what budget.

As a home style expert who has a strong commitment to peeling back the intimidating layers of the world of home decor, and showing how every person can have a beautiful home that represents their personality, no matter what the budget.

After styling for magazines and catalogues for years, I started my own interior design blog, won HGTV Design Star, and have gone on to host my own hit TV show Secrets from a Stylist, Author the book STYLED, and create the design firm Youxi988 Design.

My motto has always been to write and publish on my blog what I personally want to read about.